When we see records being broken and unprecedented events such as this, the onus is on those who deny any connection to climate change to prove their case. Global warming has fundamentally altered the background conditions that give rise to all weather. In the strictest sense, all weather is now connected to climate change. Kevin Trenberth

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But in any event, it’s good to see that we’re all on the same page about the loophole that allows companies to avoid taxes on tar sands that would otherwise help fund the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund. The oil industry often says they don’t receive subsidies from the government, but yet as Mr. Cohen admits, apparently they do.

One wonders, perhaps Exxon will agree that this is an unacceptable loophole and announce their support for closing it?

Next, Mr. Cohen writes:

“Let me start by saying ExxonMobil will pay for the cleanup. Period. Full-stop.”

“The Exxon Valdez spill was in 1989, they still, 21 years later, have not paid the [full] amount awarded in court (a mere $500 million) to those affected and in fact over 8000 people have died while waiting for compensation.”

“Exxon Mobil Corp has won the reversal by Maryland’s highest court of a $1 billion punitive damages award stemming from an underground leak at a gas station, and also won the reversal of portions of nearly $650 million of compensatory damages awards.”

“Still pending against the company is a lawsuit from a group of riverfront property owners who are seeking tens of millions of dollars in damages over allegations that the company failed to properly clean up after the spill…Attorneys for Exxon have asked U.S. District Judge Richard Cebull in Billings to dismiss the case. A decision is pending.”

Further along in his post, Cohen says:

“The second inaccuracy here is that oil spilled in Mayflower is diluted bitumen from the Canadian oil sands. The crude that spilled is Wabasca heavy oil and it’s from Alberta near the area where there is oil sands production.”

So here’s a challenge to ExxonMobil: Show us the proof that ExxonMobil is paying taxes into the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund for all of the Wabasca heavy crude (aka tar sands) that ExxonMobil is shipping in pipelines around this country. Prove us wrong.

Seriously, we would be happy to be proven wrong here…but I’m afraid given Exxon’s history of spreading misinformation, we’ll need to see the proof.

Cohen ends, saying:

“So to sum up – We’re paying for the cleanup. The oil is conventionally produced heavy crude. And it’s considered taxable.”

To sum up from my end, I’d simply say:

I’ll believe they’re paying for the cleanup when I see it. But folks in Valdez, Maryland, and Yellowstone may not be so kind.

Wabasca heavy crude is tar sands by a different name. If tar sands isn’t so bad, why the name game to avoid calling it what it really is?

If ExxonMobil is paying taxes on Wabasca heavy crude (aka tar sands), show us the proof.

In short: Prove us wrong, Exxon.

But while Exxon is proving us wrong would make me a temporarily happy “anti-fossil fuel activist”, the truth would remain that Exxon is spilling dangerous oil all around the country, raking in buckets of government subsidies every year, and imperiling our futures every single day. I wish we were lying about that, but unfortunately the proof is all around us.